Corrosion Behaviour of Short Basalt Fiber Reinforced with Al7075 Metal Matrix Composites in Sodium Chloride Alkaline Medium

The aim of the research work was to investigate the corrosion behaviour of basalt short fiber reinforced aluminum metal matrix composites (MMCs) in alkaline solution using weight loss method. The Al/basalt MMCs contains basalt short fiber from 2.5 to 10 % in steps of 2.5 wt. % and fabricated using liquid metallurgy technique. The corrosion characteristics of Al/basalt short fiber composite and the unreinforced alloy were experimentally assessed. The corrosion test was carried out at different temperatures in mixture of sodium-chloride alkaline solution at a concentration of 1N, 2N & 3N for different exposure time were subjected to corrosive media to evaluate their corrosion resistance. The results indicated that corrosion rate of metal matrix composites was lower than that of matrix material Al 7075 under the corrosive atmosphere for both unheat treated and heat treated conditions. Al/basalt short fiber composite become more corrosion prone as the basalt short fiber content is increased, and the corrosion rate in sodium chloride alkaline decreases with time, probably because of the formation of stable oxide layer over the specimens. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) show the degree of attack of alkaline solution on the surface of the investigated material

Investigation on the Influence of Basalt Fiber on Thermal properties of Al7075/ Basalt Fiber Metal Matrix Composites.

This paper reports a study of the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) of Al7075/basalt short fiber Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) as a function of temperature and reinforcement. The percentage of reinforcement was varied from 2.5 to 10 wt. % in steps of 2.5% and the composites were prepared by the liquid metallurgy technique. Using Thermal Mechanical Analyzer (TMA) model DuPont 943 equipment, the changes in the linear dimension as a function of temperature is recorded as Percent Linear Change (PLC). The temperature of the tests ranged from 50 °C to 300 °C in the steps of 5 °C both in the heating and cooling cycles. The results show that the CTE significantly increased with increasing temperature but decreased with increasing basalt fiber. These phenomena are explained